Musician, crafter and researcher Pablo Carpintero has become one of the most notable references in instrumental studies of traditional Galician music over the past three decades. And just a week ago he reaffirmed his position: he succeeded. The world’s oldest known bagpipe dating. According to the Carbon-14 test, the tool in question between 550 and 600 years.
An old acquaintance among traditional music scholars, the bagpipe is named after Xan Tilve de Campañó, which Carpintero had access to thanks to the collaboration of his grandson, Marilé Salgueiro. It’s nothing more than a 15th century bagpipe. “Imagine my grandfather, who taught me how to play it, that the bagpipe is known in this world, has already told me,” explains Carpintero.
represents the discovery extraordinary breakthrough for music history: “It allows us to find the gandas chronologically. We can confirm that Asturias does not have bagpipes more than two centuries old, or that southern Galicia, especially Pontevedra and northern Portugal, are the areas where the world’s oldest bagpipes are found,” Carpintero says.
dating model
But although the Carbon-14 method reaffirmed Carpintero’s discovery, it was he who developed Carpintero together with UVigo mathematician Iván Area and historian Susana Reboreda. new dating model for this type of instrument: “The pattern is based on the fact that one body wears out when rubbed against another. That’s why the bagpiper’s fingers erode the marker of the bagpipe.”
From there, these three researchers added: Variables that will affect wood wear: the pressure of the hand, the musician’s repertoire, the diameter of the hymn, the duration of use… With this information, they developed a mathematical model that could accurately date the ages of the chanters according to their clothing. “When we launched the model, the results showed that there are 4,500-year-old bagpipes,” Carpintero continues.
The finding was so surprising to them that they made a decision. Access the Carbon-14 test to verify in a practical way whether the results are reliable. To do this, they sent pieces of wood smaller than five bagpipes for radiocarbon testing, and the result was as expected: the five dates coincided with their new model.
The development of this method is not a trivial fact. Not only did it revolutionize the dating of bagpipes, but also drastic decrease in the price of such tests. If the Carbon-14 method requires an investment of at least 600 euros per sample, the model developed by UVigo barely includes a single investment of one hundred euros: the price of a precision meter of one hundred euros: “We can say so. almost zero cost. Just the caliber and the ability to access bagpipes.”
Currently, this research team is evaluating c.How is the model professionalized at the academic level?. They produced a scientific article that would sooner or later be published in a prestigious university journal. In fact, European researchers have already contacted Pablo to request access to the development and to make a history of his bagpipes. In addition, the results of the research will be read in the form of a thesis at the University of Vigo in the spring of next year. Not only that, but with a desire to spread, Carpintero will publish a book containing the most interesting aspects of the discovery of this and other age of bagpipes, which are pillars in the history of Galician music.
Alongside his research work, Carpintero said, the will of dozens who helped them: “Friends who inform when they find a curious bagpipe; museums that give us the opportunity to extract small pieces of wood to do carbon tests… This wouldn’t be possible without so many people”.
Source: Informacion
